Career
Born the third of four children, McGrath spent his childhood in a small farming community near Taghmon, County Wexford. He was a fellow student of the poet Breandán Ó hEithir. Soon after graduation he fell ill with Tubercolosis and spent nearly three years recovering in a sanitarium in Brownswood, County Wexford.
McGrath recovered fully, thanks to the enlightened health policies of Noel Browne during the inter-party government of 1948-1951.
In 1963 he moved to another teaching post in Clonakilty, County Cork and remained there for the rest of his life. He also worked as a supervising examiner for the Department of Education in Leaving Certificate English and also set the papers for these exams in the 1970s and 1980s.
He died in Clonakilty Hospital, on May 5, 2008, aged 78.